Nature Communications: Presence of SARS-CoV-2 in fetal organs via intraamniotic infection - November 21, 2025

[sharon sanders]

• Article
• Open access
• Published: 21 November 2025

Presence of SARS-CoV-2 in fetal organs via intraamniotic infection

• Shengnan Wu,
• Linchen Tang,
• Zeying Liu,
• Meijuan Wu,
• Xiaoying He,
• Shanshan Shan,
• Yicheng Zhou,
• Ke Lin,
• Qingxin Xu,
• Shidong Tan,
• Ziyi Zhang,
• Yao Xu,
• Cancan Wang,
• Feiye Zhu,
• Zhiyun Wei &
• Liping Jin

Nature Communications

volume 16, Article number: 10261 (2025) Cite this article


Abstract


The COVID-19 pandemic underlined the need to focus on women’s health, particularly during pregnancy. Recent studies have shown that maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy may increase obstetrical risks. However, intraamniotic SARS-CoV-2 infection has been understudied. Here, we conduct inclusive autopsies on 18 fetuses following maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection to determine whether and which fetal organs can be infected by SARS-CoV-2 in utero. We analyze a total of 538 samples from 32 tissue types to comprehensively map and quantify the distribution and replication patterns of SARS-CoV-2 across fetal organs. Our observations reveal that SARS-CoV-2 can be widely distributed in fetal organs through vertical transmission. As the length of time from SARS-CoV-2 infection to termination of pregnancy increases, the prevalence of infection in fetal organs decrease. Further, proteomic profiling reveals DNA damage and immune imbalance in infected organs.​

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-65131-1